Freedom Under Law urges President and DIRCO to rethink SA withdrawal from ICC

Freedom Under Law (FUL) urged President Jacob Zuma and Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to use the North Gauteng High Court judgment as an opportunity to rethink South Africa's withdrawal from the International Criminal Court.

"While the judgment is confined to the procedural regularity of the withdrawal notification — finding that parliamentary approval and repeal of South Africa's Implementation Act were first required — FUL believes that the reflection the court demanded should extend to the substance of the proposed step.

"The constitutional imperative that South Africa respect‚ protect‚ promote and fulfill human rights entails that those made victim of egregious crimes be offered redress and processes of accountability. In turning its back on the International Criminal Court‚ South Africa leaves victims of these crimes without effective remedy — an omission that offends against South Africa's expansive constitutional project."

• ICC: State was irrationalThe government has again found itself with egg on its face after a full bench of the Pretoria High Court found its notice of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court procedurally invalid and unconstitutional. 

The High Court in Pretoria on Wednesday found the government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC was unconstitutional and invalid.

Deputy Judge President Phineas Mojapelo ordered that the notice of withdrawal be withdrawn.

Mojapela said: “There is prematurity and procedural irrationality in the notice to withdraw from the Rome Statute by [the] executive without parliamentary approval.”

• Court declares SA's withdrawal from International Criminal Court unconstitutional and invalidThe South African government has again found itself with egg on its face after a Full Bench of the Pretoria High Court found its notice of withdrawal from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court procedurally invalid and unconstitutional on Wednesday. 

He said the haste with which the process had been conducted constituted procedural irrationality.

The Democratic Alliance approached the court last year to challenge the government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC by notifying the UN of its intention to revoke its ratification of the Rome Statute‚ which established the ICC.

On October 21 2016 Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha announced that South Africa had initiated the process of withdrawing from the ICC.

The decision followed several court judgments that the state violated the law by not arresting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir‚ who has been indicted by the ICC‚ during his visit to South Africa in June 2015.